Key & Compass presents:
The Surprising Case of Brian Timmons
by Marshal Tenner Winter

• Walkthrough
  • Part 1: Timmons Manor
  • Part 2: Sanatorium
  • Part 3: Haley Farm
  • Part 4: Timmons Farm
  • Part 5: Return to the Sanatorium
• Extras
  • Characters, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Walkthrough

Part 1: Timmons Manor

SUMMARY: Meet your client, Mrs Timmons, and find out what the job is: find out what's wrong with her son Brian, who she just had committed to the Holmes Sanatorium.

Sidewalk (near your car)

You should know that UNDO is forbidden in this game.

> x me. i. x fedora. x clothes. x coat. x holster. x revolver.

> x car. x manor.

> w. n. n.

Front Steps

> x door. x doorbell. push doorbell. n.

Foyer

You cannot wander all over the manor; only the foyer and sitting room are available.

> x Jarvis. w.

Sitting Room

Mrs Timmons will enter one turn after you enter, then monologue for several turns. You can use those turns while she's talking to do other things besides "wait". Make sure that you get the hairpin.

> take clipping. take hairpin. x mrs. x flowers. x card.

> read clipping. x hairpin.

> x sofa. x end table. x doilies.

> ask mrs about jarvis. ask mrs about brian.

> ask mrs about woonsocket. ask mrs about baines.

> e.

Foyer

Jarvis gives you a book when you leave the sitting room. And you can't go back in there either.

> x book. ask jarvis about brian. ask jarvis about mrs timmons.

> ask jarvis about robert. ask jarvis about woonsocket.

> s. s. s. e. s.

Part 2: Sanatorium

SUMMARY: Visit Brian in the Sanatorium; see what he has to say.

Parking Lot (near your car)

> x building. x trees.

> ne. n. n. e.

Lobby

> x guard. x paper. x desk.

> ask guard about brian. n.

The Office

There's quite the cutscene with Dr Giselle Fitzgibbon which happens as soon as you enter her office. She tells you Brian's in the safe room upstairs, denies your request to see him, and sashays out immediately before you can ask her anything else.

> x lab coat. x pocket. open it. take pass. x pass.

> x cabinet. unlock cabinet with hairpin. open cabinet.

> take all from cabinet. x file. x safe-room key.

> x desk. x diplomas. s.

Lobby

> show pass to guard. u.

Upstairs Hall

> x window. x door. unlock door with safe-room key. s.

Safe Room

Brian will monologue for a few turns soon after you enter.

> x Brian. x jacket. ask brian about woonsocket.

> ask brian about graverobbing. ask brian about haley.

> n.

Upstairs Hall

When you leave the building, Dr Giselle will confront you, but she doesn't bother to take back anything you stole from her office.

> close door. lock it with safe-room key.

> d. w. s. s. sw. s.

Part 3: Haley Farm

SUMMARY: Find this Walter Haley chap that Brian mentioned.

Dirt Road (Near Your Car)

There's really nothing to see until you get within sight of the shack.

> put all in coat. take revolver.

> s. sw. sw. sw. w.

Back Yard

> x shack.

Choose: circle around the shack to the north or the south? North is safer.

> nw —or— sw.

• North Yard

  > x scaffolding. pull it. sw.

• South Yard

  > x shell. shoot dog. nw.

Front Yard

> e.

Walter Haley's Shack

Walter kills himself before you can do anything. You must take the map before you can leave.

> look. x haley. x map. take map. x shotgun.

> x bed. x table. x chair. x rubbish.

> w. (Off to the next venue...)

Part 4: Timmons Farm

SUMMARY: Check out the Timmons farm in Woonsocket where Brian was living.

Dirt Driveway

> s.

Porch

If you use the hairpin here, it breaks, but you won't need it past this point anyway.

> x door. s.

> break door —or— unlock door with hairpin.

> s.

Living Room

> smell. x furnishings. w.

Study

> x desk. open it. take all from it.

> read note. x antique key.

> e. e.

Kitchen

> open cupboard. take sardines. x it.

> s. n. w. s. (There's nothing in the Dining Room to the south.)

Bedroom

> take journal. read it.

> smell. x bed. search bed. move plank.

> x corpse. search it. x table.

> w.

Back Porch

At this point, I'd suggest putting the journal, map, and note into your coat, but your coat's full. Also, the trip south from the back porch is one-way, so this might be a good place to save.

> save. s.

Gravesite

> x grave. s. s.

Ancient Tower Foundation

> x stones. x dirt. search dirt.

> se. s. s.

Cramped Tunnel

> x timbers. x door. unlock door with antique key.

> sw.

Reformatory

> x grate. look through grate. open can.

> drop can. put last sardine in grate.

> w.

The Room Beyond

The mutated man, Jason Greeley, will monologue for several turns after you enter.

> x man. x black book. x bottles. x chair. x table.

> cast spell. e.

Part 5: Return to the Sanatorium

SUMMARY: Vanquish one evil sorcerer: Douglas Timmons.

Parking Lot

> ne. se.

The Park

This is your only chance to actually examine Dr Giselle as an NPC. Give her some time to monologue, give you a key, then flee.

> x dr. z. z. z. x sanatorium key.

> nw. n. n.

Sanatorium Entrance

> unlock door with sanatorium key. e.

The Lobby

Make sure your revolver is still out of its holster. If it isn't, take it. Feel free to drop things you don't need, if the inventory limits are getting in the way.

> x blood-stained newspaper. n.

Office

An optional bit of Grand Guignol for you.

> x guard. shoot lunatic. search guard. read card.

> s.

The Lobby

> u. shoot madman. u.

Upstairs Hall

> s.

Safe Room

There's no wiggle room here. If you fail to act quickly and appropriately, you die.

> shoot inmate. again. cast spell.

Sitting Room

Just press enter several times to reel out the epilogue, as you explain to the horrified Mrs Timmons exactly what happened.

*** You have won ***

Extras

Characters

The non-player characters are:

• Mrs Timmons, your client, grieving widow, and distraught mother.
• Jarvis, Mrs Timmons's butler.
• A guard in the sanatorium lobby.
• Dr Giselle Fitzgibbon, the sexy dame psychiatrist of Holmes Sanatorium.
• A large dog who may attack you in Haley's south yard.
• Jason Greeley, reanimated (and mutated) by Douglas Timmons.
• A lunatic who attacks you in the sanatorium office.
• A madman who attacks you in the sanatorium lobby.
• An inmate who attacks you in the safe room.
• Douglas Timmons, ancestor and lookalike of Brian Timmons. Douglas was accused of witchcraft in 1642 Boston (or Salem) and fled to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Douglas and his black book of magic were buried in a secret grave that Brian eventually found. Presumably Brian unwisely used the black book's magic to restore Douglas back to life. Douglas killed Brian and took his place. Douglas then began a campaign, with the unwilling help of Walter Haley, of stealing corpses and reanimating them into mutated creatures. As "Brian", Douglas was caught by the police soon after stealing the corpse of Jason Greeley. For unknown reasons, Douglas allowed himself to be committed to the Holmes Sanatorium where he continued to wreak havok on a smaller scale until you turn him into dust.

Other characters mentioned or referenced:

• Brian Timmons, an old acquaintance of yours. Although the game originally presents him as an insane inmate at the Holmes Sanatorium, that's actually Douglas Timmons. The real Brian Timmons is a corpse hidden in the Timmons farmhouse.
• Robert Timmons, Brian's father, who recently died after falling off a ladder. Although Robert's death appears acccidental, it's possible that Douglas may actually have dominated Robert from afar, causing Robert to kill himself.
• Mr Baines, a strange friend of Brian's who moved suddenly to Europe, according to Mrs Timmons. Well, no, that was another alias of Douglas Timmons before he took on Brian's identity.
• President Harding, mentioned in the headline of the guard's newspaper.
• Walter Haley, a hoarder who kills himself in front of you. The evidence suggests that Haley was somehow magically compelled by Douglas Timmons to dig up Greeley's corpse. Although Douglas attempts to force Walter to shoot you, Walter manages to exert enough will to kill himself instead.

Inventory

In the rough order acquired:

• a fedora. You're wearing it. Leave it on.
• a set of clothes. You're wearing them. Leave them on.
• a trenchcoat. You're wearing it, and you can use it to carry a few things in it.
• a holster. You're wearing it, and it has your revolver in it. Leave the holster on.
• a revolver. It's in your holster. You'll use it to shoot several unpleasant creatures: Haley's dog (optional), a lunatic (optional), a madman, and an inmate (twice).
• a newspaper clipping. It's in Mrs Timmons' sitting room. Take it and read it.
• a hairpin. It's in Mrs Timmons' sitting room, on the endtable after taking the clipping. Take it.
• Unlock the cabinet in the doctor's office with the hairpin.
• Optional: Unlock the front door of the farmhouse with the hairpin. The hairpin will break, but you won't need it after this.
• a folded card. It's in the flower arrangement in Mrs Timmons' sitting room. Read it.
• an old book. Jarvis gives it to you when you leave the sitting room. Read it.
• a security pass. It's in the pocket of the lab coat in the doctor's office. Show the pass to the security guard in the lobby; you can now go upstairs.
• a medical record file. It's in the cabinet in the doctor's office; unlock the cabinet with the hairpin. Read it.
• a safe-room key. It's in the cabinet in the doctor's office; unlock the cabinet with the hairpin. The key unlocks the door to the south in the upstairs hall of the sanatorium.
• a hand-drawn map. It's on the table in Walter Haley's shack. Examine it. You must take it before leaving the shack.
• a scrawled note. It's inside the roll-top desk in the farmhouse's study. Read it.
• an antique key. It's inside the roll-top desk in the farmhouse's study. It unlocks the antique door in the cramped tunnel.
• a can of sardines. It's inside the farmhouse's kitchen cupboards. Open it in the reformatory.
• Brian's journal. It's on the bedside table in the farmhouse's bedroom. Take it and read it.
• a last sardine. It's inside the can of sardines. Put the last sardine in the grate of the reformatory.
• a black book. It's in the "room beyond". Read it to learn how to cast a spell.
• a sanatorium key. Dr Fitzgibbon gives it to you in The Park on your return to the sanatorium and after she's updated you on "Brian". The key unlocks the front door of the sanatorium.
• a blood-stained newspaper. It's on the concierge desk in the sanatorium lobby on your return there.
• a greeting card. You can find it by searching the guard's corpse in the doctor's office. Read it; it's just there for the dark humour.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since I wrote this walkthrough prior to January 2015 when I began my Patreon account. I've since reformatted this walkthrough to use my currently preferred style. I hope you enjoy it!

I'm still creating new walkthroughs! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.